Sao Paulo does not have nature reserves or sandy beaches like other World Cup host cities in Brazil; yet, football fans have pleasant spaces in the heart of the metropolis to enjoy the tournament. Paulo Cabral reports from Sao Paulo’s FIFA Fan Fest.

Sao Paulo is South America’s most populated city with 12 million inhabitants. Its downtown is busy and full of people all the time, but right now there is very different crowd taking it over.

Thousands of football aficionados who will follow the 2014 World Cup matches on a jumbo screen in the city’s FIFA Fan Fest. On the days when Brazil is playing a match, this place gets impossibly packed but when the home team is not on the field this becomes a quiet location, similar to a park.

The 2014 World Cup is being viewed around the world. Even so, for many offices here in downtown Sao Paulo, it’s business as usual except when people who work in the city manage to take time to enjoy the football and the party.

There is no doubt the FIFA Fan Fest has turned central Sao Paulo into a good and relatively safe option for fun during the tournament, and as many people in the city hope this could be the case throughout the year.

FIFA Fan Fest takes over Sao Paulo

FIFA Fan Fest takes over Sao Paulo

Sao Paulo does not have nature reserves or sandy beaches like other World Cup host cities in Brazil; yet, football fans have pleasant spaces in the heart of the metropolis to enjoy the tournament. Paulo Cabral reports from Sao Paulo's FIFA Fan Fest.